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Friday, 29 October 2010

Hello and welcome to the inaugural South Pacific punch art blog hop!!!

We are a bunch of Stampin Up demonstrators from New Zealand and Australia who love our Stampin' Up! punches. We have gotten together to showcase a selection of the punches you can purchase from Stampin' Up!. We know we will inspire you and encourage you to use those punches in new and beautiful ways. Please leave a comment and let us know what you think to go in the draw to win some yummy scrummy punch art blog candy (sorry, offer not available to su demos, but you're most welcome to leave a comment!).

Here's the list in case you get lost, you can start wherever you like, but to enter the Blog Candy Draw you must comment on all 15 blogs.

OK, I'm No 7 on the list, Michelle Dyson. You may have come here from Melissa Davies' blog or just be stopping by here randomly. I've chosen the delectable "Modern Label" punch, which I affectionately term the "dog bone" because of it's shape. Like the Word Window punch, it's a must have for adding sentiments neatly, but it's even more useful for the slightly larger and longer sentiments that can look a bit squished in the Word Window. But hey, you *need* both of them anyway!! LOL :) My projects also use a few other punches you may recognise, and will probably see more of as you hop through the tour!

Here's my project, and a little tutorial about a neat trick using the Magnetic Movers and Shapers Moveable Pieces to co-ordinate with your punches.

Many of our Stampin' Up! punches can be used to create pretty 3D layered flowers, but this one has a nice cottage-y look, reminding me of a paeony flower.

The first step is to punch multiple Modern Label shapes from cardstock of your choice. I have used So Saffron and Regal Rose, but you can stick to a single colour, or choose any other you like.

Next, I've folded them in half and used my Paper Snips to cut little diagonal snips from the middle fold, to give the 'petals' a waist, so to speak. I've also punched a Circle Scallop to use as the base of the flower, this helps to keep it all together.

Next step is to make the cardstock flexible enough to split apart into layers, the "suede-ing' technique. You can scrunch by hand, but that takes a while. If you have a Crimper tool (sort of like a punch in it's usefulness!), you can soften multiple punched shapes at once, and it's much easier on the hands too. Roll the punchies back and forth through the Crimper, not quite all the way so they fall out. Then eject them and put them back in at a 90 degree angle, and repeat. This is breaking down the paper fibres and before long you will see the layers of paper making up the cardstock start to separate, like below.

Now it will be quite easy to peel apart the layers, producing two sides, with a soft, suede-like surface.

It's a good idea to make lots, as there will be some casualties during the separation process.

I used my paper piercing tool and Mat Pack foam mat to poke a hole in the centre of each petal, and threaded them onto a Flower Brad. You can twist the petals around gently to arrange them how you like once they are on the brad spike.

Almost finished flower, with ruffled petals.

I did a little tutorial a few posts ago on this blog, showing how easy it is to create your own shimmer mist using our Shimmer Paint. I tracked down some unscented Isopropanol (Rubbing Alcohol, Isocol) from my local pharmacy, good news for those of us with sensitivities to perfume! I used the Champagne Mist colour to spray my flower. The alcohol evaporates very quickly, but while it is damp you can shape and mould the flower

Ta-da!!! You can see the dampness and the shimmer.

Here is another little trick, making ruffled ribbon. It works with most ribbons, this one is wide grosgrain. Make a small snip in the centre of one end, and draw out a thread (only one or two strands, or it will be too hard to pull on)

﻿It helps if you fold over the other end, and either stitch or staple it, to help prevent the thread pulling all the way out. Ease the ruffles along the length. You will need to start with a length of ribbon at least two and a half times the finished length you want.

Use Sticky Strip tape to secure the ruffled piece on the card, and press down to hold in place. No need to remove the staples, they'll be hidden on the back.

So, here are the tools I used and the finished project. That little purple and black block is the Movers and Shapers piece that matches the Modern Label punch, see below for the cool (and economical!) trick!

The card base is Soft Suede, and I used the Decor Stampin' Around wheel to roll Soft Suede ink around the perimeter. Next there is a layer of Regal Rose with sponged edges. Then, a layer of So Saffron, which I rolled through the Crimper in both directions to echo the distressed flower.

The top layer is Very Vanilla, stamped in So Saffron using French FIligree background stamp, and I used the Cutter Kit distressing tool to roughen up the edges.

The leaves for the flower are made from the Scallop Oval punch, in River Rock cardstock. I could have used Pear Pizzazz I guess, but didn't want to add another colour. They are also crimped, and this makes them soft and flexible enough to fold and 'smoosh' into a leaf. I used Mini Glue dots to attach. The flower was attached with Sticky Strip, since it needs to STAY there! The sentiment is stamped in Soft Suede on So Saffron, with the Curly Cute stamp set.

But wait, you say, there's another layer under there? How did you do that?? Ah HA!!

Here's what you need: 2 x clear cutting plates, and either a third cutting plate or a black "Texturz Impressions" pad - this is simply to adjust the thickness to compensate for the lack of the Movers and Shapers base die.

The shapes in the Punch Windows set can be seen there, the Scallop Oval, Large Heart, Modern Label and Large Star. All will result in a shape that is just slightly larger than the punched shape, so you can layer them!!

The little square block is an optional extra, it's a "Magnetic Ejection Blank" and just helps to get the cardstock off the shaper piece.

Layer as follows: Clear plate (non cutting if you save one plate for cut marks like I do)
Mover and Shaper piece, foam up
Cardstock over the top (hold in place with a little Dotto if needed)
Second Clear Plate (cutting)
Third clear plate or Black Impressions pad
Roll through!

Ta Daaaaa!

Cool hey!!

The best part is that the set of 4 pieces is just $54.95. Essentially, that makes 4 punches. Great if you don't have the punch as an alternative, and even greater if you have the matching punch to layer with!

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